Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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ND SPORTS Irish Making Themselves At Home In The Compton Family Ice Arena The pre-game festivities for the rivalry game against Boston College on Nov. 18 began with university president Rev. John Jenkins, CSC, sprinkling the front doors of the Compton Family Ice Arena with holy water and concluded with the building's namesake dropping the ceremonial first puck just before the contest. PHOTOS BY JOE RAYMOND BY DAN MURPHY is any indication of what the future holds, the new $50 million barn was worth every penny. The Irish have not lost a game I since opening the rink with a 5-2 win over Rensselaer on Oct. 21. They put a cherry on top of that 7-0-2 stretch exactly four weeks later at the of- ficial grand opening. Dozens of for- mer players and major benefactors watched Notre Dame knock off No. 3 Boston College on Nov. 18 in one of the most well-played, adrenaline- pumping hockey games South Bend has seen in a long time. The daylong series of events began with university president Rev. John Jenkins, CSC, sprinkling the build- ing's front doors with holy water. Twelve hours later, when sophomore Bryan Rust's desperation shot trick- led into the back of the net with less than two seconds remaining in over- 38 DECEMBER 2011 f the first month of games played in the new Compton Family Ice Arena time, the priestly blessing was clearly still working for the Irish. Notre Dame and the Eagles battled back and forth on the scoreboard throughout the game, but a Boston College goal with two minutes re- maining in regulation gave the visi- tors a lot of momentum heading into overtime. The Irish needed just about every second of the extra five min- utes to turn things around. With time winding down toward an anticlimac- tic tie, Rust picked up the puck near center ice and made one last rush. He cut to the middle of the zone in- side the blue line and heaved it at the net. Somehow it slipped through the pads of Eagles goalie Parker Milner and rolled through the crease to give Notre Dame a 3-2 win. "Two great teams, great rivals. It can't get much better than this. Down to the last second in overtime, one just squeaks in. The game was a thrill ride the entire time," Rust said while trying to gather his thoughts and his breath minutes after scor- ing the game-winner. "It's kind of blurred in my head right now, but all I know is I saw the puck cross the goal line and just went nuts." The first 60 minutes were almost as riveting as the final five. The fastest and most talented team Notre Dame has faced all season gave the Irish, and the sellout crowd of 5,022 people who paid up to hundreds of dollars for a chance to watch, all they could handle. Boston College junior Chris Kre- ider started the scoring on a penalty shot with 13 seconds remaining in the first period. Notre Dame an- swered with two goals in the sec- ond from sophomores T.J. Tynan and Shayne Taker. The Eagles looked like they had tied the game with another goal in the closing moments of the second period, but referees waved it off because of a controversial hand pass call. The Eagles' Johnny Gaudreau eventually got the tying goal late in the third period, and his team had BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED